speechless

There have been a few - and usually random - things that affect me in this whole Post-Katrina-life that I'm living.

• Driving into Waveland (eye of the storm) for the first time last weekend. Seeing the beach where my friend Deb & I sat last year, when she came down for the Deaconness convention. Turning behind me to see the complete destruction of Gulfside Assembly, a historically black retreat center of the Mississippi Conference.
• Driving below the railroad tracks in Waveland/Bay St. Louis on Saturday - seeing row after row after row of demolished houses that used to greet me when I visited Main Street Bay St. Louis UMC - only 3 blocks from the beach - still standing, now coordinating work teams.
• Seeing Epworth Church - the only building at Moore Community house that won't be demolished - seeing it gutted to the studs and roof and stained glass windows. Knowing that we had JUST finished renovating it to ADA regs., and knowing that our training childcare classrooms were in the process of being supplied so that my co-workers could start working to improve the quality of child care on the coast. Now they're working to BUILD a child care industry on the coast.
• watching the video produced by WilmoreToThePass.com - a great visual of my college's relief trip to Pass Christian over thanksgiving break.
• reading my friend julie's blog - she participated in this trip, out of compassion & her personal connection to the coast (ie. me!). Julie's done a great job blogging her thoughts & her pictures of the trip.
• being able to be a part of the recovery by collecting toys, coats & books for the children affected by the storm - both those still living on the coast and those living in Jackson, MS.

Going to the coast does a weird thing to me - it wears me down so much I wonder - each time - if I can handle it. It usually takes me a few days to get back to normal. I've been down there 4 times since I got back from Thanksgiving break - no wonder I felt like I had been run over by a mac truck last night.

I'll be back again several times in the next two weeks, distributing toys to children - some, I learned, who are still living in tents. Please pray that God will provide me with the sheer strength to keep going - to keep giving, to keep working so that ALL children - young and old - have a better tomorrow. Pray that all of my relief projects will be completed - and that I will still be okay, even if they're not. (My perfectionism is in overdrive these days!)

For all of those who read this blog who have come to MS: THANK YOU. I've thanked Julie about 15 gazillion times. I didn't realize the void I felt for understanding until Julie came down - she & I were able to talk about what the coast is like, and talk about the recovery that we are now both a part of. I didn't know how important it was for someone I knew pre-katrina to understand me post-katrina.